The Return of Shield

Summary: The chaos that resulted from Hydra's infiltration ran deep. It's hard to move forward from past betrayals but Coulson's team needs to heal if they plan to return SHIELD to it's former glory.

The Beginning

Does anyone ever know when a major change is coming,
one that will literally alter the course of your life? Are there clues or
signals sent out by the universe that, to discerning eyes, will indicate that
we should brace ourselves for the new shape of the future? Sometimes people
later will recall that they “just had a feeling” but, of course, such recollections
are suspect. It was Piaget who first introduced the idea that later knowledge
is integrated into existing schemas in ways that sometimes make memories
reflect something other than what actually happened. And if our memories are
ever changing, then what does that mean for who we believe ourselves to be?

These were the thoughts occupying Agent Katerina
Sevda as she began her second month of working at the FBI. While the job was
new to her, the work itself was not. So, she amused herself by wondering if
this was the start of something truly fresh or if it would end up being the
same old thing. She certainly hoped not. The same old thing had practically
killed her the last time. Of course, her boss waxed philosophic about how she
was born to do this work, that Kat would make a difference in the world. Kat
had heard it all before. She had once believed in something as idealistic as
‘destiny’ but now the word felt meaningless after the loss of life and the bits
of darkness that seemed to swirl chaotically around her these days. As a
result, she began her work at the FBI with just a hint of apathy, of wondering
if she was correct in her assumptions.

Kat’s work at the FBI was fairly routine, just as
she knew it would be for a while. Although her superiors in the agency mentioned
that they may occasionally need for her to do some criminal profiling, Kat’s
work mainly focused on psychological autopsies. Her task was to examine the
circumstances of the death, retrospectively look at the person’s life and figure
out what took place in this incident and what circumstances led to them. She
would then extrapolate whether the offender acted alone and if he – and they
almost always were men – left behind more victims. If the offender was still
alive (a relatively rare circumstance thus far since most tended to kill
themselves when it looked like they could no longer continue their murder spree),
it was Kat’s job to try and determine where they were and how they could be
caught. It was interesting work for the most part but, unlike in her previous
position, the FBI didn’t seem to be in urgent need of her conclusions. As a
result, there was a lot of down time.

In the past, Kat welcomed the times when she could
catch up on her reading, take a leisurely lunch or even work out in the middle
of the day but now too much time left her restless and in a precarious
position. The dark thoughts, the ones that almost destroyed her, were still too
much in evidence for her to give them the opportunity to crowd back into her
mind. She had to keep her mind active in order to keep them at bay, so Kat
started thinking. And, if they had still been alive to issue a warning, her
parents would have said that the prospect of Kat thinking was always a dangerous
one. Dangerous for who, only time would tell. The last time she had started
thinking, it had gotten her drummed out of SHIELD.

It all started with the Battle of New York. You would
think that an alien attack would have caused the human race to band together in
order to become stronger but such an idea was hopelessly naïve, as Kat knew
only too well. That thought didn’t take into account government bureaucracies,
the illogical nature of fear, and the short-sightedness of the power-hungry who
saw an opportunity. Thus, rather than uniting everyone, the Battle of New York
had served mostly to keep people hopelessly divided. Of course, the usual petty
criminal enterprises that tended to follow chaos were around but something was
different this time.

Kat herself hadn’t truly noticed the change
immediately. She was too involved in her own life until it all came crashing
down around her in what she called The Incident eight months after the Avengers
saved the world. Kat’s mind slipped over The Incident as quickly as she could.
She didn’t need to relive that horror but suffice it to say that she was a
different person after that weekend in January when she was attacked by armed
terrorists. After she healed physically from her gunshot wound, SHIELD welcomed
her back with open arms.

Kat appreciated the way her coworkers had helped her
during her initial week back on the job. They’d been solicitous about her
health, made sure she wasn’t doing too much, and frequently came by her office
to lift her spirits. However, that lasted only a week as her coworkers got
busier and expected that she would be fine. Kat wasn’t too fazed by this as she
knew that grief tends to get short shrift in the workplace. That was why Kat was
especially grateful for the subtle nurturing she got from Raya Martinez, her
coworker who had morphed into a good friend. It was Raya who thoughtfully
provided Kat with the Percy Jackson
series to keep her occupied during her recovery.

The books served a dual purpose because they provided
a carefree topic the two friends could discuss during their lunch hour. Or, at
least, their conversations were usually carefree. Once Kat and Raya had a
heated conversation about the appropriate way for Percy to kill a Hydra, given
that the only way you thought the mythical creature could be killed – by chopping
off one of its many heads – only served to make it stronger. Unfortunately, the
two women had been in the cafeteria at the time and their intense debate
attracted other colleagues to their table, many of whom had joined in. Finally,
when the topic had been exhausted and everyone started drifting away, one of
the younger agents at a neighboring table asked, “Hydra? Isn’t that supposed to
be SHIELD’s worst enemy?” Both Kat and Raya had burst out laughing and walked
away smiling.

Unfortunately, soon after this conversation, Raya
was transferred to a remote location and Kat lost what she later realized was
her touchstone to the living. Without Raya to nudge her out of her office,
Kat’s mental health took a nosedive. She became lonely, morose and irritable. Left
to her own devices, Kat’s thoughts turned dark. To keep herself from going
crazy, she threw herself into her SHIELD work and barely even came up for food
or sleep, not to mention fun. And that is when she started noticing the
anomalies.

Because of her high ranking position in SHIELD’s
PsyOps division and her personal history, Kat was given permission to
investigate the organization that was behind The Incident. Her work on
psychological autopsies served her well with this but what she found was
baffling. There were hardly any clues to the identity of the group that had
barged into the compound. The group seemingly left nothing and no one behind.
Even the money trail had gone cold. Despite spending her every waking moment on
the investigation, she still had no answers to her questions. How had a
relatively unheard of group gotten the intel they needed to stage such a
high-level attack? What were their goals? Why had no one taken credit? She kept
running into brick walls as the mystery refused to unravel. One fateful day
(had she seen the signs before?), Kat decided to share her frustrations with
her immediate superior, Agent Jim Smith, to see if he had any fresh ideas.

Kat had known Jim for close to a decade, almost from
the time she graduated from the Academy. Jim was so incredibly smart and
friendly that she felt really lucky to have the opportunity to work with him. He’d
hired her into his division immediately following her graduation. Kat had no
doubt that it was partly due to his mentorship that she’d risen so far in the
organization. Jim never failed to offer her a helping hand whenever he could
and often pushed her to develop new skills. In moments of self-doubt, she wondered
just why it was that he was so generous with her.

“So Kat, it’s kind of unusual for you to ask for a
formal meeting. What’s up?” Jim asked on a Friday afternoon when she sat down
in the chair across from his desk.

She smiled briefly, somewhat shocked to realize that
a smile was something that rarely graced her face these days. “It’s just this
damn organization!” Jim nodded understandingly. It was well known that Kat was
interested in practically nothing else these days. “I can’t find anything on
it. Every time I think I get a lead, I run into a brick wall. It’s like they’re
ghosts!” she said angrily. “I don’t know what else to do.” As she spoke, a
peculiar expression passed over Jim’s face.

Had this conversation occurred just a few weeks earlier,
Kat would have missed it. For a full three months following The Incident, she
had just been numb. She’d felt nothing and cared about little beyond finding
those who were responsible for the nightmares from which she awoke screaming. However,
after taking long walks in the parks that spring (the ones her colleagues and
friends insisted she take) and spending hours in the company of Steve Rogers
and Natasha Romanoff, Kat’s emotions began to return.

Instead of being angry that other people were happy
or just contentedly living their lives, she started pretending she could feel
their emotions. She began trying to figure out what they were feeling and then
eavesdrop on conversations to see if she was right. Given Kat’s behavioral
science background and her natural empathy, she found that she had gotten
pretty good at reading people. Thus, while her days were spent in furious revenge
for the dead, her nights were spent slowly rejoining the living. So when Jim’s
face took on an expression she wasn’t expecting – was that satisfaction on his face? – Kat was taken aback.

“Kat,” Jim said gently. “Maybe you should consider
letting this one go and start working on something new. No one could have
looked harder or done a better job than you have but this group is clearly just
too well hidden.” He stopped to see if she was listening or was going to argue
with him. When Kat remained silent, he continued. “I wouldn’t worry though. Any
group this well organized is one we will see again. I feel certain that you’ll
get your chance to meet whoever is responsible.”

Kat just sat there feeling overwhelmed. All of a
sudden, she remembered the many times that Jim had asked her to work on
something else, all the projects that miraculously needed the assistance only
she could provide. Surely, analyzing the personality profiles of Rising Tide
hackers wasn’t something that needed the skills of a top level PsyOps agent! It
was never blatant but, now that she was looking for it, she could clearly
detect a pattern of Jim steering her away from this investigation. It was on
the tip of Kat’s tongue to ask why he wanted her to fail but then she thought
better of it because another thing that Kat learned during her time of grief
was patience.

M.L. Bull:
Hello, Aalia!Your story compelled the emotional pain and struggle of a teenage girl very well.. The imagery was also convincing and well-written, showing the different personalities of your characters and their actions. However, I do think that many of your sentences are too lengthy and could use...

Jasmine Chow:
As I read this story, I was reminded some what of Terry Pratchett, especially some descriptions of politics and economics. The sci-fic setting is quite intriguing. Writing style is quite lovely and grew on me slowly. I was also slightly reminded of Mark Twain, especially his book A Connecticut Ya...

Leah Brown:
This was an amazing read! I was hooked from the very first chapter, holding my breadth to see what would happen next. The characters are rich and vibrant, and the world Danielle has created is fascinating. If you love YA, you MUST read this book. Such a smart, brilliant debut novel. I loved it!

Jessie:
I wrote a review on fanfiction but I thought it would be fitting to write on on here too :) This story was honestly stunning. I am a budding writer myself and to read this- to FEEL this- reminded me of why I am honoured to have this passion and drive for a craft that is just so raw and beautiful.

Guywithgunz:
Vanessa's saga has been an ongoing labor of love for the author and her core gp of fans.The saga as a whole is a must read for fans of Adventure / SciFi stories. The uploads here are in need of a final look by an editor for the spelling and grammatical errors that have crept in somehow into the f...

ernbelle:
When I first started this story I was a little unsettled by all of the information that appears in the prologue, and wasn't sure if I would continue. However, I am very glad I did. The plot was very well thought out and really interesting. There were not any page breaks or markers to acknowledge ...

Melderise:
This is just an amazing novel that teaches you how to break the bonds of reality. It shows how the most fascinating story can start from the most regular environment and then leading the reader to the dream destinations...